Copyright jim ferguson 2018
Jim Ferguson -
BRIEF BIOGRAPHY
Jim Ferguson is a poet, pamphleteer, novelist and critic based in Glasgow. Born in 1961, Jim has been writing and publishing since 1986 and is a Creative Writing Tutor at Glasgow Kelvin College. His poetry collection 'the art of catching a bus and other poems' is published by AK Press, Edinburgh. Two other collections of poetry 'When Feeling Fully at Home in the Drifting Living Room of Time' (2018) and 'For Eva' (2017) are published by Famous Seamus Publishing.
He was the 2011 'Poet Laureate' of the Scotia Bar, Glasgow.
Other books include the novel 'Punk Fiddle' and 'The Pine-Box-Jig Involves no Dancing' both published by Graham Brodie's Whirlpool Press. He has also written a short monograph on Robert Tannahill: 'Tannahill: The Soldier’s Return with an Introductory Essay by Jim Ferguson.' The essay is based on his PhD thesis 'A Weaver in Wartime.' See essays.
Commissions have included work for Scottish Television, Glasgow International Arts Festival, West of Scotland Housing Association, Scotland in Europe and The Clutha Trust.
Jim has worked as a Creative Writing Tutor in Preisthill, Govan, Lochwinnoch and Easterhouse.
He has given hundreds of readings and public performances of poetry and prose and is available for live gigs.
Ferguson's work has appeared in anthologies, on-line publications and in numerous journals and literary magazines, such as: Edinburgh Review, Common Sense, Minted, New Writing Scotland, Northwords, Cutting Teeth, Scottish Child, Nerve, Echo Room, Rebel Inc., West Coast Magazine, The Wide Skirt, Variant and Air.
He released a spoken word cd entitled ‘QUIRKY’ in 2009 (OG Records). 'More than Quirky' Jim's most recent cd is available on-line from the home page.
Other publications include:
Fugitive Bullets (contributor with Brodie, McGarrigle, Melville, Relax), 1 O’Clock Gun, Edinburgh, 2009.
‘Lament that Choruses Through your Broken Heart’ in Mutter Shutter, Scotland in Europe, Govan, Glasgow, 2010.
'Songs to Drown a Million Souls', Fleming Press, Glasgow, 2013. See 'Pamphlets'.
'Walmart Pants' short story in Gutter #14, 2016.
in god we trust
ah ha
here he comes
god
sauntering with his unmistakeable creator’s gait
and his infinite arsenal of nuclear weapons
it’s just what we need right now
a religious maniac with his finger on the button
whispering corruption
sshhh...
if you don’t tell
i won’t tell
we’re aw in this the gether
at least that’s what we need to tell them
how would they believe us otherwise
how would they stop themselves
from giving our heads'
the Mussolini treatment
or worse, they’d take away our
little privileges, and though
we don’t draw attention to it much
we have an infinite arsenal
of nuclear bombs —
if the lower orders
think they’re getting their
sweaty cankered maws
on anything of ours
we’ll show them an explosion
that will tear down time and nature
that will bomb the universe back to the big bang
